Good news for Iraq & Human Rights: ‘Son of Babylon’ first Iraqi film to be selected for both Sundance & Berlin IFF’s 2010, unearthing the story of the 1,000,000+ missing persons in Iraq.
Filmmakers launch ‘IRAQ’S MISSING’ campaign linked to SON OF BABYLON aimed at accelerating process of identification of missing persons in mass graves in Iraq.
Human Film’s ‘SON OF BABYLON’, will compete in competition in the World Cinema section at the Sundance Film Festival and is to compete as the only Arab film in its category followed by it’s Official Selection at the Panorama & “Cross-Section” screening in the Generation section at the Berlin International Film Festival – making it the only Iraqi film so far to appear in Sundance and in two sections at this most prestigious film festival in 2010.
Remarkably, the filmmakers of ‘SON OF BABYLON’ have exposed to the world Iraq’s hidden horrors as Iraqi filmmaker Mohamed Al-Daradji takes his audience on a journey through Iraq in 2003. Saddam Hussein has fallen and on hearing the news that prisoners of war have been found alive in the South, Ahmed, a young boy and his grandmother, Um-Ibrahim, set out to uncover the fate of the boy’s father, one of the many soldiers who never returned home after the 1991 Gulf War. From the mountains of the North to the southern sands of Babylon, as his grandmother struggles to accept an awful truth, Ahmed retraces the footsteps of a father he never knew.
‘SON OF BABYLON’, binds two generations; the older steeped in suffering; and the younger bearing hope for the future. By choosing to tell the story of a Kurdish mother, and not an Arab, I hope to find empathy between the two cultures that occupy Iraq. Both have been victims of the chaos and occupation that has engulfed this country, both have suffered, both have lost, and this story will help to unify our understanding.” AL-DARADJI
The film will join the international film industry’s elite in screening at two of the most respected and largest film festivals in the world over two continents. The filmmakers hope that through watching the film the media and its audiences will join them in supporting the campaign and help in contributing in bringing peace of mind to Iraq’s millions of families who have lost loved ones over the years.
“Son of Babylon†is Al-Daradji’s second feature length film, his first feature, Ahlaam, was screened at over 125 international film festivals and received more than 22 Awards also representing Iraq for the Oscar and Golden Globe Awards in 2007.
The film has succeeded in creating a bridge of unity between the West and the Middle East, through the shared vision of Human Film (UK/NL), Iraq Al-Rafidain (IRAQ), CRM-114 (FRANCE), Cinema Production Centre (Palestine), Sundance Institute (US), UK Film Council, Screen Yorkshire, UK Trade & Investment (UK), Fond Sud & CNC (France), Hivos, Doen, Nederland Fond and Rotterdam Media Fonds (Netherlands), Royal Film Commission (Jordan), Sunnyland Film ART, Mawred Fund (Eqypt), Pyramedia and ADACH (UAE) all coming together to support one courageous filmmaker, Mohamed Al-Daradji.
In conjunction with the film, Human Film are launching a very timely landmark campaign ‘IRAQ’S MISSING’. The Iraq Ministry of Human Rights estimate more than 1.5 million have gone missing over the last 40 years and estimate 250,000 bodies have been recovered from 300 mass graves so far. This number will grow as more mass graves are discovered, which is sure to overwhelm the limited resources that aid organisations in Iraq. The filmmakers hope the ’IRAQ’S MISSING’ campaign and ‘SON OF BABYLON’ will communicate the extent of the genocide and are lobbying for the redirection of resources in Iraq and from outside organizations dedicated to issues such as these, to fund the technology needed for the identification of the bodies in a more efficient way. Producer, Isabelle Stead†I hope it will inspire a high-profile approach to human rights violations that will no longer go unnoticed by the world.â€
Check out the trailer here:
SON OF BABYLON from Human Film on Vimeo.
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